Helix: http://crm.alorica.com/emachines/
Demo Helix: http://dev.alorica.com/emachines/crm/

Look toward the top left-hand corner of the window for a place to type your username and password. Simply enter the information shown below and click on the Login button to gain access to Helix.

Demo Helix Username: train01
Demo Helix Password: train01

Searching for a Customer
Before you can begin troubleshooting anything, you need to know whether or not the customer is in warranty, what type of system they have, whether or not they have called before and if so, what the previous technicians have tried already. By searching for, and finding, a customer you will have access to records that contain this information.

Click on the Search button at the top of the menu located on the left-hand side. Then you will see a new screen appear in the right-hand frame asking you to please fill in the fields to search with.

There are several different fields you can search with. As dictated by the call script you will begin by asking the customer for their phone number. Enter their phone number in the field labeled “Phone” and click on the Submit button at the bottom of the page.

If the phone number returns no results, click on the Reset button at the bottom of the page and then search for a serial number instead. It is required that you do two searches for two different criteria to ensure we are not adding duplicate customer information.

If there are still no results and they stated that they’ve called before repeat the same process using the case number, if available. Prompted by the call script you should be asking the customer if they have registered the system before. If they state they have then try a combination of the customer’s last name, and zip code.

Registering a New Customer
If you are unable to locate a profile for the customer in the database, it is most likely because this is their first time calling or simply have not registered. You will need to enter them into the database before you can begin troubleshooting the issue or probing the problem further. Use the call script to obtain this information from the customer.

In the search results click on the blue ADD NEW CUSTOMER button and you will be presented with a screen asking for the customer’s information. Not all of the fields on this form are necessary for you to fill out. For instance, the Zip Code field has a Verify link next to it which will automatically fill in the City and State fields for you, should it recognize the zip code. Some fields like Country still need to be entered manually.

These are the fields that are necessary for you to fill out:

First Name
Last Name Address
Zip Code
Country
Day Phone
Email (only required to ask, if they do not have one do not put a fake one in.)
Purchase Store Purchased Date Model Number Serial Number

Important: If the customer’s date of purchase is outside of the 90 days, the customer will need to fax in proof of purchase. Register the customer with the date of manufacture if the valid date of purchase is unavailable. The customer will need to fax in proof of purchase to get the correct date assigned.

Note: Remember to verify everything you type by reading it back to the customer. This is to ensure there are no typos and information was understood correctly.

Once you are finished entering the customer’s registration information, click on the blue ADD CUSTOMER button at the bottom center of the screen to create a new customer profile.

Note: If run into any error messages, verify that you have filled in all of the necessary fields and try again. Usually this happens when the serial number was entered incorrectly. You can use the serial number decoder and the serial number scheme document in eMacInfo2 to help you make sure the customer is reading the serial number to you correctly.

Modifying an Existing Customer Profile
Once you are able to locate a customer in the database, you will see a screen containing all of their personal information, as well as a list of the eMachines products they own. Take some time to verify first name, model, and any other information that may be missing or questionable. Pay attention to poor capitalization as well. (e.g. JOHN DOE, or john doe)

If you need to make changes to a customer profile, do so simply by typing over the existing information on the screen. Once you are finished making changes, click on the blue Modify button directly below that information.

Another window will appear and ask you to enter a note. Summarize the reason for your modification and click on OK to save your changes to the customer profile. A common modify note might be something as simple as “Customer moved recently updating to new address”.

You can also update product information by clicking the Modify link across from each product. The next screen will allow you to change the model number, serial number, and purchase store. CRMs are the only ones who can modify the purchase date, call warranty expiration date, and part warranty expiration date.

Once you are finished on this screen, click Modify it will then ask for a note to be entered for what was changed. Once the note has been entered click ok and it will return you to the main customer profile.

Adding a Product to an Existing Customer Profile
No matter when a customer purchased an eMachines product, you must register them in Helix in order to assist them. However, in some cases the customer may already be registered in Helix and that is why you search for the customer’s phone number and then the customer’s serial number before trying to register them. It is fairly common for a customer to have multiple eMachines products and therefore, we have the option of having more than one product per customer profile.

If you happen to find a customer’s record by searching for anything but the serial number, verify that the product has not already been added by checking under the System Information section. It will show you the serial number, model name, date of purchase, whether they are in warranty or not, and so on.

To enter a new product, simply click on the Add Product button from the left-hand side of the screen. When adding a product to the customer profile, the only information you will need is the serial number, purchase date, model number, and the purchase store. The rest of the information was entered at the time of registration.

Once you are finished entering information, click on the blue Add button in the center of the screen to return to the customer profile.
Check eMacInfo2 to verify if the computer was bundled with a monitor. It is required that we register all eMachines product(s) the customer owns.

Remember that you can only type notes for one product at a time. Notice how each product listed under System Information has a folder icon beside it. Then notice how the information from the middle left-hand section matches that of the open folder. These are both indicators showing you which system you are currently working on.

Adding an Associate to an Existing Customer Profile
Associates were created in order to help reduce the number of duplicate customer profiles in Helix. John’s wife Susie calls on her husbands behalf, even though the system is registered to him, we can simply add her name to the existing customer profile without having to create a new one.

Always make sure you know who you’re talking to before troubleshooting. If their name isn’t on the account, add it via the Associate section. That way if John calls up later on and asks us what has happened to his computer, we will be prepared to inform him that his wife had called earlier and outline everything we performed over the phone with her.

In order to add an associate, click the Add Associate link from the left-hand side of the screen. The next screen will prompt you for the person’s first name, last name, and relationship to the registered customer.

Once you are finished entering all the necessary information, click on the ADD ASSOCIATE button to save your changes and return the customer profile.

Documenting the Call

Clicking on the Create Case link will allow you to begin entering your notes for the product you are currently working with. If the customer is out of warranty the option shows as Pay For Support. You will then be presented with a history of every call this customer has made to our facility. Each time a customer calls about a particular problem, they are assigned a case number by the technician.

It is vital that we only create a new case in situations where the customer is calling about a new issue. The client, eMachines, wants to gather as much information as they can about a given issue and not have to look under 10 different case ID numbers.

Since this customer has already called in once before, you will need to find out whether or not he has called before about this problem. If the problem is the same, you should continue the case by clicking on the blue Case ID number above the previous technician’s notes. Otherwise, you would click on the blue Create New Case button at the very top of the window.

Problem Box:
The problem box is designed to hold all the information necessary to trouble shoot the customer’s problem. Any questions that are asked, the answers are put into the problem category. Error messages and symptoms also belong in the problem box.

Solution Box:
The solution box is for anything that is done. It is not necessary to put in the exact steps. Example is if a driver was reinstalled from device manager. The steps of how to get to device manager would not be required in the notes. Factual information such as: went to device manager, removed driver, restarted and reinstalled driver are the only things that are necessary.

Problem Code:
The problem code is the reason for why the customer called. The problem code is normally filled out near the very end of a call. The following is an example of how you could code a situation. A customer calls in stating that they cannot connect to the internet. After probing the situation, it is found out that the error message preventing the connection is “No Dial Tone”. The resolution to the problem is reinstalling the driver. There are two possible codes for this call:

The reason for the call is that they cannot connect to the internet. We want to code why they called so in this situation we would code it “No Dial Tone”. The reason it would be coded as such is because that is the problem.

Now you are ready to begin typing in your notes. Fill out the problem first, then the solution, and finally the problem code. Always save the problem code for last.

Now scroll down to view the rest of the page. Before you save your notes, you need to select the survey question, language, action code, and case status.

This is your only chance to issue an EURP, RMA, ASC, or In-home Service. If you accidentally save your notes without selecting the proper action code, you will have to append and retype your notes all over again just to go back.

Finally, when you are ready to save your notes, click on the Add Record button. Once you have saved your notes there is no way to undo these changes. Nobody has the power to modify or delete any records from Helix for legal purposes.

For that reason, you should not include any type of foul or obnoxious references in your notes. Be especially careful with HTML. Bullet points and line breaks are the only authorized HTML code. Likewise, no swear words should be you included in your notes, whether the customer actually said them or not. They are not appropriate to be in notes and should just be stated as the customer having used vulgarity and not actually stating what was said. Also refrain from using emoticons and abbreviations. Acronyms can be used in notes however abbreviations cannot. The difference is very easy to know. A Hard disk drive could be called an HDD in notes because HDD stands for hard disk drive. CU for customer could not be used because it is an abbreviation.

Issuing an EURP

Before issuing an EURP, finish all of your notes, set the action code to EURP, set the case status to RESOLVED L1 per customer, and click on the Add Record button. The next screen will prompt you for the part you wish to ship to the customer. At this time, only parts designed for the model saved in the customer profile are shown.

You can only ship one part at a time. After selecting the part you want to ship to the customer, click on the Submit button.

The next screen will ask you to verify the customer’s shipping address and credit card information. Remember that credit card information is not required for all parts; however the credit card field will always be there. Be sure to read each field back to the customer. If the customer’s address is wrong when you ship a part, it can cause monumental problems later on in the process. Do not make the mistake of skipping this step.

Once all of the information has been verified, click on the CHECK OUT button to continue. On the next screen, you will be presented with the part request number. This number is a reference number that the customer can use to periodically call us back in order to check the status of the part shipment. If you are sending a part give the customer the parts request number instead of giving them a case number.

Issuing an RMA

Before issuing an RMA, finish all of your notes, set the action code to RMA, set the case status to RESOLVED L1 per customer, and click on the Add Record button. The next screen will prompt you for the shipping address of the customer.

RMA TYPE:

There are two options System Replace and Advance Ship. Advanced ship only appears when you are doing an RMA for a monitor. Monitors can, for a $98 pre-auth, be shipped out before the customer ships in the old monitor. This advanced ship option does not appear for a tower because we do not have any way of repairing their tower without them sending in the defective unit first.

Selecting a System Replace means that no credit card is involved. We always send a pre-paid shipping label; however we only send a box if the option has been chosen to send them a box. Once the customer receives the shipping label, they send in the tower.

Problem Code:
This is what is wrong with the system. There are four problem codes possible but you only need to do as many are as applicable. In any situation that a problem code is not listed, to identify the problem select Other (01) and put extensive notes in the problem box at the bottom of the screen.

Shipping Address:
Verify the shipping address. This is extremely important because if the address is wrong then the shipping label will never get to the customer. This is the most common reason for delays in the RMA and EURP process.

Box:
The customer if they wish can get a box sent to them. If the box category is selected as yes a box will be sent. All Notebook RMAs will have a box shipped automatically.

Problem Box: (?)
The warehouse does not have access to the Helix notes. What information the warehouse receives about an RMAed system is on the RMA screen, in the problem box, and problem categories. Needed in the problem box is the specific information of what is happening with the system.

Notes Box: (?)

The notes box is for any additional information that doesn’t pertain specifically to the problem. An example would be that the customer is sending in an additional 512MB of 3rd party memory. This needs to be noted so that a customer is ensured of getting their 3rd party hardware returned.

Checkout:
Once you have filled out all of the information and verified the address, select this option.

On the next page you will see a summary of the information you have verified with the customer on the previous screen. This is your point of no return; there are no more opportunities to modify or change RMA information once the RMA has been issued. If any part of the RMA information is incorrect, it will cause monumental problems later on. This is a simple list of things to check: shipping address, model information, serial number, customer name, problem box filled out, notes box filled out, problem codes selected, box (yes/no).

Note: This is a job responsibility, not an option.

Once all of the information has been verified, click on the CONFIRM ISSUE RMA button to continue. On the next screen, you will be presented with the RMA number and a script to read to the customer. The script is not necessary as long as you summarize the information listed within the script. The RMA number is a reference number that the customer can use to periodically call us back in order to check the status of the RMA repair. It is one of the numbers you can use to search for customer profiles from the main page as well.

Looking-up Part Information

To find part information, first pull up the customer’s profile on the screen. Then click the Part Information link from the left-hand side of the screen. The next screen will show you a list of parts we have shipped to the customer including the product, part number, SKU, issue date, part type, and status.

Click on any part number to see more information about that particular part. The next screen includes the shipping address, order date, pack date, ship date, FedEx tracking number, and much more.

This information is updated on a daily basis. Make sure you know where to find it.

Looking-up RMA Information

To find RMA information, first pull up the customer’s profile on the screen. Then click the RMA Information link from the left-hand side of the screen. The next screen will show you a list of each RMA we have issued to the customer including the RMA number, model, serial number, status, and more.

Click on any RMA number to see more information about the status of the repair. The next screen includes the shipping address, pick date, ship date, receive date, FedEx tracking number, testing information, and much more.

At this time, you can also click on the Looper button if you ever needed to resubmit an RMA.

This information is updated on a daily basis. Make sure you know where to find it.

Determining When a Customer is Out of Warranty

It is actually very simple to tell the difference between an in-warranty (IW) and an out-of-warranty system (OOW). First, you need to pull up the customer’s profile. On this screen you will be provided with the DOP (Date of Purchase), call warranty, part warranty, ESP, and much more.

In the example above you can see that this customer owns two models. A newer W4885 and an older eTower 333cs. The older system, located on the bottom, is definitely out of warranty. Here is how you can tell:

• The DOP says it was purchased in 1998 and the ESP section tells us that they did not purchase an Extended Service Plan. We know that the standard warranty only lasts for one year and, even if the customer had purchased the 3-year Extended Service Plan, there is no way they would still be eligible to receive technical support today.

• The Call Warranty and Part Warranty both say Out, indicating that the warranty is no longer in effect for this product.

• The older system has a Pay For Support option rather than Create Case. This indicates that the customer will need to pay a consultation fee in order to receive technical support today.

Assuming that this customer is calling about the older system, you would need to click on the Pay For Support link before you may begin typing your notes in Helix or providing support.

Sometimes having to pay for support seems outrageous to older customers. When this happens, it is important to remind them that eMachines actually offers one of the lowest prices in the industry. Especially when you consider the fact that our $20 Consultation Fee is a one-time charge per problem, as opposed to Microsoft ($35/call), or Priority One ($2.99/min.)

This technique is beneficial in two ways. First, it frees up the line for our preferred customers who have either paid full-price for an extended warranty or are still within the first year of their standard warranty. Second, those who decline to pay for technical support over the phone will alternatively receive the benefit of free unlimited online support via live chat and/or email.

After you have clicked on Pay For Support, you will be prompted for the customer’s credit card information, billing address, and the reason for the charge. Some of this information is already filled in for you. You must ask the customer for this information before you can actually begin providing them with support. It is extremely important we find out what the issue is with some basic probing questions before we take their credit card information, so we know if we can help them. If a customer has an extremely loud clicking hard drive and is getting an error that also suggests a bad hard drive, we would not charge the customer the consultation fee, because there would be nothing we could troubleshoot.

If the customer declines not to pay for support, you should click on the Decline button near the middle right-hand side of the window. This will allow you to quickly enter a brief summary of what happened. Don’t forget to include who you’ve referred the customer to in your notes.

If the customer is willing to pay for support, enter the problem for which they are calling as the reason for the charge and click on the Pre-Auth button to begin typing your notes and troubleshooting the call as normal.

Note: Keep in mind that the customer is only charged when you select an action code with a $ sign in front of it and save your notes. Until then, you can still back out and only a temporary hold will show on the customer’s credit card.

There are certain times when it is not appropriate to charge the customer. For instance, you would not charge the customer if they are calling back with a case number. Neither would you charge the customer if they only want to purchase Restore CDs. In these circumstances, it is acceptable to bypass the consultation fee by clicking on the Repeat Issue button.

You may also select Pay For Support from the menu on the left to see a history of charges. It will show you the sale order number, issue date, price, status, and more.

Using Quick Log

Use quick log whenever you are unable to access the customer profile in order to save your notes. Examples of this are a dead call, incorrect number, quick information, unsupported product, pre-sales questions, etc. It was only designed as a means to quickly summarize a call you just handled.

It is not appropriate to use quick log just because you forgot to ask the customer for their phone number or serial number. In fact, it is a rare situation when you will use quick log at all, because using it affects your team negatively. That is why your Team Manager will be the first one to let you know if you are abusing quick log.

In order to see the option for quick log you need to be at the search screen inside Helix. If you don’t see Quick Log along the left-hand side of the screen, click on Search instead. Then it will appear directly below that option.

Select Quick Log from the menu on the left. The next screen will prompt you for the reason, additional notes, and case status.

Select the reason for your quick log from the top, then enter a brief summary of what happened, and finish up by selecting the case status and clicking on SUBMIT. It will take you back to the search screen so you are ready for another call.

Merging Duplicate Customer Profiles

If you ever come across a duplicate record in Helix, you can merge them by modifying the customer profiles for each record to look exactly the same. Once the first name, last name, address, zip code, email, phone number, city, state, etc. are all exactly the same in two or more profiles, they will be merged. This merging does not happen immediately but in most circumstances happens within 24 hours. If the merge does not happen after 24 hours, forward the information to your team CRM.

Registration Cards

You can use registration cards to keep your Billable Utilization (BU) up. Look for the Reg Form option along the left side of the screen and click on it. Read the card as best you can and fill in the necessary registration information. When you are finished, click on SUBMIT. If there is ever a situation where rude or crude information has been entered on the registration card bring it to the attention of a team manager and do not register it into the database. Verify DOP to make sure it is within the three months of the manufacture date. Do not use the Reg form to register a customer calling in.

What to Say If Helix Goes Down

There will be times when the power goes out briefly, the network is moving slowly, or your computer freezes. No matter what though, never try to tell the customer that our database is down. If you have to say anything, say “the database is updating.” Remember that your job is to fix computers, and if you can’t even fix your own computer it will reflect poorly on you.

Conclusion

When you get right down to it, Helix is an easy program to learn. You can ask the people who have been around long enough to see different versions of Helix compared to the software being used by other accounts and other companies and Helix is a good program.

With the help of this module, you should now understand the basics for getting around the database.